The invention relates to an image-processing device for executing an object segmentation in which the object segmentation can be and/or is carried out by comparing a camera image to a scene reference image of a surveillance scene, equipped with a learning device for generating the scene reference image; a surveillance system that includes the image-processing device and a plurality of interfaces for connection to surveillance cameras; a method for establishing a scene reference image of a surveillance scene; and a corresponding computer program.
Video surveillance systems are used in a multitude of applications in order to monitor large areas. Such video surveillance systems customarily include a plurality of fixed-mounted cameras that record relevant surveillance scenes and a central surveillance station in which the video sequences of the cameras are brought together. Often, the evaluation of the assembled video data is performed by surveillance personnel. As is known, the surveillance activities of surveillance personnel are very fatiguing, which is why the possibility that important events in the surveillance scenes may be overlooked cannot be ruled out. For this reason, it has long been common practice to use known image-processing algorithms for automated evaluation of video sequences.
One method step often used in the automated evaluation is object segmentation in which moving objects in the video sequences are extracted.
In order to carry out the object segmentation, in most cases, a so-called scene reference image is generated, which represents the static or quasi-static scene background of the respective surveillance scene. The image differences between a current camera image and this scene reference image are then evaluated for the object segmentation. As a rule, the scene reference image is generated through the evaluation of video sequences that have been recorded over several minutes.
A prior art of this kind has been disclosed, for example, in the scientific article by K. Toyama, J. Krumm, B. Brumitt, B. Meyers: Wallflower: Principles and practice of Background Maintenance, ICCV 1999, Corfu, Greece.